The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-02-26
THE MOUNTAIN GIRL.
Her Ideal Knight Realized in the
Flesh.

Stacy Dingess lived on the crooked fork
of Big Cany click-creek, it is usually
spelled, confounding the local name of a
bending rvulet with the indentation of a
coast He owned 3S2 acres, thirty two of
which was fertile bottom land and the rest
made up Of steep rocks and patches of soil
on which huge oaks and naples found sus-
tenance. Stacy had a wife, Lucy Jane by
name, agaunt woman, worn ont by toll, and
prematurely aged by the close log-cabin
atmosphere and the poor fare of the mount
aineer. Stacy had four sons in succession,
whom he named Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John. When his wife gave him daughter
he called her Acts, intending to go clear
through the New Testament to Revelation
ii the crop of children held out. The circuit
rider who baptized the baby was shocked at
the name, which he thought bordered on
profanity that he called her. Acta, Her
father would not accept J.io amendment,
and always called her AK, varying it once
with AK O. the Postils. SO did the neigh
bors, "for Short as they said She was
the last born to the pair, and when she was
a strip of girl of thirteen her mother died
The evangelists had all died young, and,
when Stacy was gathered to his fathers by
tumbling off "a raft Acta was left alone,
girl of eighteen, in sole control of the family
acres. She had no relatives SO far as she
knew. There had been an elder brother of
her father named Luke, but he hadrun away
when boy, and, never having been heard
of after was supposed to be dead.
The neighbors all counseled Acta to rent
the farm to some one ION shares" and to
board with the tenant. But to this PROPOSE
ton the girl gave a negative II know how
to work the place." she said. ''Fact is, I've
been dom it for the last three years-pap
left it to me. When l want any hard work
done old Abner Stollins is always at hand
There's six good COW beasts on the place,
and my butter fetches more than any one
else's. It's sweet and yaller, and the folks
at the courthouse take all l can make"
'But won't you be skeert to live alone?n
"Skeert! Why! I've got rife and |
know how touse it. Then there's our dog,
Bose, and Bose Dingess is as good as two
men, Nobody'n trouble me. Afeared! |
wasn't born in the woods to be skeert by the
yowls."
Acta was regarded as little queer-''one
of the antickest gals livin'," they said.
Where she got her good looks from was
hard to say; but she was good-looking, a
handsome copy of her father. She was
rather over the middle height, with will
iowy, symmetrical form, long and finely
nodded neck, and features which, if not
quite classical, were pleasing and had a
most winning expression. She had won
'derfully small and shapely feet and hands,
too. We see such things as these continual
iy, the assertion of the superiority to blue
blood running in a family Acta could have
had her pick among the young men of the
UlClnaUp She tbOnuht t0 ba Loo,
too. There were no schools around, but a
neighbor, who could read, write and cipher
had taught her when child and once Acta
had learned to read, her thirst for knowl-
edge was Unsuitable. She had picked up
Jew books, among the rest abridged histories
of the United States and of England, and
these opcnedt hera new world Butthe book
of books was a copy Of Froissart. A travelling
colporteurhad this one copy among his stock
having taken it in exchange for something
else twas quite unstable and too heavy to
carry around. He sold it to Acta for a
trifie. She pored over the old chronicler at
intervals until she had its leading incidents
by heart and could repeat them at will,
though her pronunciation of some of the
names would have startled Frenchman
II she changed De Folk into Deefoicks, and
De Guescln into Deegooscclin. she admired
them all the same, and longed to visit
France wherein she supposed brave knights
and gentle DANES still existed. Her ro-
nance with hero in it came at last. 1t
was very small one, but romance all the
same
Acta had ridden one day to the court
house with her two little pals Of butter,
covered with clean white cloths, carefully
suspended on either side Of the steady old
horse. 1t was court week. and all the
rough fellows in the county were there,
ostensibly to attend to law business, but
really to drink whisky. They attended to
the real matter in hand so seduously that,
while they only got drunk the first day,
they never got quite sober until the court
had adjourned. Acta made her way TO the
ann, whose keeper had contracte.. -or her